


Cornerstone

by monimala



Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: F/M, Gap Filler, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 14:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12584076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monimala/pseuds/monimala
Summary: My take on what happens during and after the Zack reveal in fall/winter of 2017.Scott's great at dozens of things...but he's terrible at guarding himself against this impulsive, annoying, spoiled brat who clung to him like he was her only refuge.





	Cornerstone

He tries not to think about it. How they each laid down their weapons for a moment. How she let him draw her, unresisting, into his arms and cradle her head against his shoulder. He tries not to remember how soft her hair felt, how soft _she_ felt as she allowed him to be a rock instead of the gale-force wind always battering her against it. He tries not to dwell on Abby Newman as remotely vulnerable.

He fails. Scott's great at dozens of things. He's a skilled writer. A brilliant war zone reporter. He survived being held hostage by armed militants, for fuck's sake. But he's terrible at guarding himself against this impulsive, annoying, spoiled brat who clung to him like he was her only refuge. So he recalls, at random, how her shampoo smells like some flowery concoction. And he marvels at how she and Sharon may both be blondes but they're polar opposites. Sharon is softness hiding amazing reserves of strength. Abby is spikes embedded in cotton candy fluff. Sharon doesn't need him. But Abby...

Fuck. When he sees her with Zack, some switch just flips in his head. The wrongness of the guy. Of them together. She's in danger and doesn't know it. Of course she shrugs off his warnings when he pulls her aside at the coffeehouse. Of course she calls him out. He doesn't expect any less. What he _wants_ is a different story. He wants her to listen to him. He wants her to be safe. He wants her to melt in his arms again and let him carry her burdens.

When she finally does, it's days later. The bruises of Zack's lies, his despicable acts, hang heavy in her eyes and weigh down her limbs and she crumbles against him, beating at his chest and lashing out with blame and tears because he's the one alive to take it.

"You knew! You knew what he was and you let him touch me!" she rails as he bands an arm around her waist and holds the back of her head in one palm. " _I_ let him touch me. Oh, God." The words are muffled by his shoulder, but they're still sharp enough to tear. Abby and her spikes. Pointed inward just as much as outward. "How could I be so stupid?"

"You're not stupid." Scott's implied the exact opposite dozens of times, and now each of those barbs sting with regret. How could he be so cruel? He pulls back, looks down into her huge, tear-swollen eyes. "You are not stupid," he repeats emphatically. "You saw the best in Zack because that was what he made sure to show you. He was good, Abby. He had everybody fooled. Even Victor."

"You tried to warn me," she remembers, voice flat and lifeless. "That day in Crimson Lights. You tried to tell me to stay away from him. But I wouldn't hear it."

"I didn't try hard enough," he admits. Because he may be an arrogant asshole, but he's a self-aware arrogant asshole. "I should've _made_ you listen. I should've told you everything. Fuck, I should've carried you out of there and locked you up somewhere safe."

The confession surprises the hell out of him as much as it does her. Because that's not them, right? He's not supposed to be her hero. He's not her white knight. He's not her anything.

"Scott..." He feels her stiffen. And he stiffens in another way entirely. Because it registers on a cellular level that Abby is in his arms right now. He _did_ carry her away to a safe place. He rescued her. And now she is practically skin to skin with him, every every curve of her body molded against every angle of his.

"Oh," she whispers as she feels that one particular angle in particular. But she doesn't move. Doesn't jerk away or slap him or tell him off. All things he deserves for an ill-timed erection.

"Abby, I'm —"

He starts to apologize but she cuts him off with a shake of her head and a murmured, "Stop." And then she slides her palms up his chest, until her arms are locked around his neck, and tilts her face to his. There's no mistaking the gesture. The look in her eyes. The part of her lips. But just in case Scott's in doubt, Abby puts it into words. "Kiss me," she demands, every inch the entitled princess even when she's hurting. "I don't want to taste Zack anymore. I don't want to feel him."

Scott shouldn't comply. But all he can think about is that night at Top of the Tower. When he held her and nothing else mattered. He's a self-aware asshole, right? So he knows that he'd give anything to feel like her rock, her protector, again. And a kiss...it's the easiest thing to give when there are only inches between them. Naturally, she doesn't wait for that. She takes. Arching up on her toes and pressing her hot, wet, mouth to his. Fuck. Every rational thought flies from his head then. It's all lizard brain. All instinct. He's happy to obliterate the memory of Zack from her lips. From her tongue. From every inch of her skin.

They stumble from the doorway to the wall to the bed. Clutching and grabbing and ripping at clothes. The most terrifying war zone he's ever been in is right here, he realizes. In the valley between her breasts and the apex of her thighs. Because even while they're fucking, they're fighting each other. It's all push-pull and battling for dominance. This room is their port in the storm...but they _are_ the storm.

It's not something as romantic as making love. It's forces of nature colliding. Her teeth sinking into his shoulder. His cock bottoming out inside her. Their hips slapping together hard enough to leave marks. Maybe he's the vulnerable one now. Stripped down to the most basic elements for Abby, to be the man that she needs in this moment.

Sometimes he's her rock. Sometimes he's the hard place. As long as she's okay, he can live with that.

 

-end-

 


End file.
